The Birth of Enosh
Shet, aged 105, fathers Enosh — the third generation, whose name means simply «man», with an undertone of frailty.
«Shet lived 105 years and fathered Enosh» — that is all the Torah says of the third generation. «Enosh» is one of Hebrew's four words for a human being and the frailest of them: where «adam» evokes earth and «ish» strength, «enosh» carries mortality. The prophets and psalms reach for it in lines like «what is man that You remember him».
Enosh lived 905 years and died in the year 1140. His birth opens the long chain of Genesis 5, where each generation is recorded in one formula: he lived so many years, fathered a son, lived on, had sons and daughters, and died. That dry rhythm is what gives the tradition a firm chronology for the first fifteen centuries, from Adam to the Flood. But Enosh's generation also marks the first spiritual break in human history, hinted at in a single obscure verse at the end of chapter 4.